[Event "2023 U.S. Junior Chess Championship"] [Site "Saint Louis, United States"] [Date "2023.07.20"] [Round "5.1"] [White "Mishra, Abhimanyu"] [Black "Liang, Jason"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2591"] [BlackElo "2499"] [Annotator "Lang,JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E10"] [Opening "Indian Defense: Dzindzi-Indian Defense"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/ZBuAQUT7/D4QX3yR1"] [Orientation "white"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. Nc3 d5 5. c5 { By transposition, the players have reached a trendy ... a7-a6 line of the Queen's Gambit Declined that has been popularized for its flexibility by players like Carlsen. } 5... b6 6. cxb6 c5 (6... cxb6 { holds the position together just as well, despite the conventional wisdom that Black ought not capture away from the center like this. But Liang's energetic reply is a more ambitious twist, for sure. }) 7. Bf4 Bd6 8. Bxd6 Qxd6 9. dxc5 Qxc5 10. Qd4 Qd6 11. e4 (11. e3 { is the old move, played 13 times including once in a draw by Giri. } 11... O-O 12. Be2 Nbd7 13. O-O e5 14. Qd2 Nxb6 15. b3 Bb7 16. Rfd1 Rfe8 17. Rac1 h6 18. h3 Rad8 19. Qb2 Qe7 20. Na4 { with nothing to show for the opening in Giri – Le, Chess24.com, 2021. }) 11... Nc6 12. Qe3 (12. Qa4 { has been tried once, in an online game, where White had no advantage but nevertheless won on move 89 in Ponkratov – Yuan, Chess.com, 2022. }) 12... d4 13. e5 Qb4 14. Nxd4 Nxd4 15. O-O-O Nf5 16. Qf3 { At this point, Mishra has used under two minutes of his time while Liang has two minutes more than when the game started. } 16... Nd5 $146 { The only move that holds equality. Despite this position having only been reached once before (last month!) and the proper move never being played, Liang blitzes this out. } (16... Rb8?! { was played just last month, when White earned an advantage with } 17. exf6 Rxb6 18. Rd2 (18. Bb5+!! axb5 19. fxg7 Nxg7 20. Qf6 O-O 21. Rd4 $16) 18... gxf6 19. Bd3 Bb7 20. Be4 O-O $16 { and won on move 37 in Nyzhnyk – Leiva Rodriguez, Las Vegas, 2023. }) 17. Nxd5 exd5 18. Qxd5 O-O 19. Qxa8 Ne3 20. fxe3 Qc5+ { Both players have been moving instantly until now, when Mishra pauses for six minutes. } 21. Kd2 (21. Kb1 { will eventually be played, but perhaps Mishra just wanted to give Liang one more chance to drift. } 21... Bf5+ 22. Bd3 Bxd3+ 23. Rxd3 Rxa8 24. b7 Rf8 25. Rc1) 21... Qb4+ 22. Kc1 Qc5+ 23. Kb1 Bf5+ 24. Bd3 Rxa8 (24... Bxd3+ { transposes to the game. }) 25. b7 Bxd3+ 26. Rxd3 Rf8 27. Rc1 Qe7 28. Rb3 Qxe5 29. Rc8 Qf5+ 30. Rc2 Qe5 31. Rc8 Qf5+ 32. Rc2 Qe5 33. Rc8 Qf5+ { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2